Special needs teen drowns during school trip to East Los Angeles pool, family alleges LAUSD negligence

EAST LOS ANGELES - An attorney for the family of a 16-year-old boy who drowned during a school visit to a swimming pool in East Los Angeles says the student, who suffered from intellectual disabilities, died as a result of negligence on the part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

District officials did not immediately comment on the drowning of Garfield High School sophomore Eric Ortiz at the public pool at Atlantic Park in the 500 block of South Atlantic Boulevard around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, or on the statements of attorney Luis Carillo.

The accident occurred during an annual visit by members of a Garfield High School Global Studies class to the park in the 500 block of South Atlantic Boulevard. The end-of-school-year visit is described on the school’s website as the Global Studies Bash.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Eddie Hernandez said investigators are not sure if the victim jumped into the pool or was pushed into the deep end. Witnesses said he sank, re-surfaced, took a breath and then sank again, Hernandez said. The boy was then taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Ortiz, a special needs student, had a full-time teaching assistant assigned to him by the LAUSD in the past two years. Carillo said the assistant would not have permitted the victim to swim -- if only he had been with him.

“He was negligent,” Carillo said. “He did not guard his student adequately because the student should not have drifted off.”

Eric’s death was caused by “the negligence of the LAUSD,” which knew he could not be left alone “for even a second,” Carillo said, adding that the victim’s family wants an investigation into why the victim was unattended.

He said he believed the students’ visit was to have been to Atlantic Park, and not the public swimming pool within the park.